This theater was one of the best thirty years ago. I recently bumped into one of the girls that used to work there as a candy girl. I asked her, “How come nobody has seen a female employee behind the candy stand or as an usher since the mid 70s?” She replied, “The owner seems to veer away from female employment for reasons that seem very odd to me. For the actually reason you would have to ask Mr. Leonard Edwards himself.” I asked, “Why?” I got no answer. I asked her about the employee’s that have been working there for quite sometime almost since the beginning. She remembered a few. I asked her about the benefits at the AC5. She replied, “Well there once was health insurance but for some reason the owner took it way.” I quickly replied, “Isn’t that illegal!” She said, “yes, but the owner doesn’t care, he could get away with murder and he always does.” Recently every happy going employee to begin working that lasts longer than three months seems to be severely depressed. The only one that seems to have a voice around there and any say what so ever that goes into that place is the owner. The owner really has bad business management skills there. One time I went to the movies there and the owner was be little-ing one of the managers over spille d popcorn on the lobby floor that wasn’t swept up when there was a ton of people in the lobby. I thought that was the wrong time to say something like that, it was uncalled for! I would have quit right then and there. I recently found out that the asst. managers and projectionists there are only paid $7.50/hr and not only do they have their manager responsibilities they have to perform various other fill-in jobs. I recently found out that the man that has been working their for a very, very, very long time who was promised the business after Edwards departure has made a career at of this place just on a promise. I really hope he doesn’t get screwed!

Both my brother and I worked at the ol’d Atlantic in the mid-60’s. We were always under the careful eye of Lennie.

As a metter of fact I still sport a scar on my right hand from a cut I recived while trying to change a light bulb over the men’s room door. I still remember the lessons learned on how to operate the carbon filament arc projector.

Upcoming event at a local church. They claim opening date is 1921. Too bad its not at the theater.

Showing the next day, Saturday, November 20, at 2:00 pm, again at St Agnes Church Hall, is A SILENT FILM FESTIVAL. This event celebrates the opening of the Atlantic Theatre in 1921 in Atlantic Highlands.

Featured films include: Charlie Chaplin playing an escaped convict, crashes a society party posing as a Count in THE ADVENTURER (1917); Buster Keaton works in a small-town vaudeville theater in THE PLAY HOUSE (1921); Snub Pollard explains the origins of Thanksgiving in THE COURTSHIP OF MILES SANDWICH (1923); and Laurel & Hardy attempts to sell Christmas trees to a very tough customer in BIG BUSINESS (1929).

Tickets for the Saturday showing are available at the door for $8.00 adults and children $5.00. Snacks will be available at a nominal price. See you there!!

extracted from this article:
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Feb 28, 1997 p018
Theater goes the neighborhood; As movie multiplexes become megaplexes, it’s nice to know the Bijou is just around the corner. (TICKET)

The Atlantic Triplex 82 First Ave. Atlantic Highlands (908) 291-0148

By Bette Spero

July 1, 1961 – Len Edwards remembers the date as if it were on the cornerstone of his Atlantic Triplex in Atlantic Highlands. But that would read 1912, when the brick-fronted building was a garage. By the time Edwards came along a half-century later, the edifice had become the town’s entertainment center.

When he bought it on that summer afternoon in “61, the Atlantic was a single theater with 335 seats. Now there are three screens and spaces seating 300, 150 and 100 persons, for a total capacity of 550.

The Atlantic has sustained itself the past 35 years. Business is good, and Edwards improves the property regularly. Its stucco facade and bold marquee are a focal point on First Avenue, the Shore town’s main street.

Good box office deals abound. The cost is $5.50 for adults and $3.50 for kids, senior citizens and members of the military. On Mondays and Wednesdays, “date nights,” two are admitted for the price of one. Memphis Pig Out down the street, catering to the chicken and ribs crowd, has a “Movie Meal Deal” Mondays: Buy dinner and get two free movie tickets.

Edwards lives in town and spends a lot of time at the theater, which is staffed by 10 employees, including manager Robert Cavallo, who oversees the day-to-day operations. Edwards, a Rhode Island native, has been hanging around movie theaters since he was a 12-year-old assistant usher at the Strand Theater in Newport.

He hardly ever watches the movies, but he enjoys mingling with the folks who do. “All my life I’ve been in this business. I love it,” he declares. “It’s a life of pleasure. You meet such nice people.”